Saturday, July 05, 2008

"The death penalty is about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate is why my daughter and those 167 other people are dead today."

Bud Welch, father of Julie Marie Welch, victim in the Oklahoma City bombing

"I have come to believe that the death penalty is not what will help me heal. Responding to one killing with another killing does not honor my daughter, nor does it help create the kind of society I want to live in, where human life and human rights are valued. I know that an execution creates another grieving family, and causing pain to another family does not lessen my own pain."

MVFHR board member, Vicki Schieber, testifying to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights; Committee on the Judiciary; US Senate, February 2006

I respectfully depart. One finds it hard to find solace in another's death. Some believe that an execution dulls out invariable justice. However once most people realize that the perpetrator's death provides little solace for the loss of a loved one, they only return to step one. I hardly believe 100% of those executed to be guilty. How the press spins some of these cases to sell them still burns my soul to the very core. Innocent until proven guilty perished with the birth of pre-trial hypothesizing and marketing purported by outlets that many people trust for daily news. They instill a fallacy of working legal knowledge in those who may very likely end up serving on the jury for the case, forever dirtying the possibility of an impartial conviction. Furthermore, explain your discourse on the relevance of copious amounts of money and its correlation with eventual innocence versus economic disparity's similar relation with likelihood guilt.

What an amazing analogy. I was just watching investigation discovery where they were profiling the story of Danny Rollings. I was born and raised in Shreveport, LA and I had never heard of these killings so, to say I was in shock, is an understatement. When i read what you posted about the death penalty, I was touched. Its hard to believe that a person who is thrusted into a such a devastating situation and can still find that type of compassion for the person who caused you to be there is simply amazing and quite honorable. I pray that one day I will be graced with that same gift. God bless you and your family.